Sparta Recreational Authority

Kent County, MI

Meeting Agenda

July 7, 2016 at 7:00 PM

Sparta Township Office 160 E. Division

Public attendees:

Dale Bergman, Julius Suchy, Elizabeth Morse, Tim Driscoll, Ben Maier

  1. Call to order: 7:04
  1. Roll Call

Maier / Steffens / Pinckney / Cowdrey / Peak / Whalen / Guerra / Christie / Open SARA
X / Absent / X / X / X / X / X / X / NA
  1. Approval of Minutes
  2. June 2, 2016
  3. Motion by Maier to approve amended minutes, second by Christie. Motion carries 7 - 0
  1. Additions or Corrections to the Agenda
  2. Motion by Pinckney to approve Agenda as written, second by Guerra. Motion carries 7 -0
  1. Public Comment

None

  1. Public Hearing

None

  1. Unfinished Business
  2. Continue Operating Conversation from Last Meeting

Notes in this section carried forward from 2 June meeting

  1. Consider that the park will be open, in some limited fashion, as soon as spring 2017. Perhaps for t-ball. Maybe even for sledding this winter.
  1. Calls for us to set our plan to define how the park will be run thru the coming summer/fall/winter.
  1. Consider that the SRA park will require more, focused support to run smoothly than do the current Village parks.
  2. Anticipate an on-line scheduling tool will be advantageous.
  3. Envision it will be helpful and beneficial to have a centrally managed park "programming" function to assist with youth sports program scheduling, resident use, potential tournament use, etc. of the SRA park.
  4. General agreement that all Sparta parks should follow the same policies. Raises the question about value of continuing to edit the draft SRA policies. Might that effort be wasted if the Village later unifies policies for all parks, including SRA park?
  1. General agreement that we need to pull together SARA, SRA, Village and Township to further discuss how the park will operate, who will be responsible for each function, and how funding will work.
  1. Operations committee to document SRA's vision for how the park will operate using a blend of SRA, Village and Township resources.
  1. New Business

NA

  1. Committee Reports
  2. Construction committee (Steffens, Pinckney, Guerra)
  3. A survey conducted recently confirms the trench on the north edge of the park is on park property.
  4. Tim Driscoll shares that the DEQ has been involved and has given SRA permission to restore the property.
  5. Tim also shares that portions of the ditch need to be filled before we can build the road.
  6. Motion by Pinckney second by Cowdrey to file police report with Sparta Village police department for criminal trespass and malicious destruction of property against Mr. Hendler. Motion carries 7 - 0.
  7. Tim shares that excavators hit a spring on one of the fields. Recommendation from Tim and Viridis to move the field to avoid the spring.
  8. Finance committee (Whalen, Maier, Cowdrey)
  9. NA
  10. Fundraising committee (Peak, Steffens)
  11. Had a VIP meeting with good attendance at the park recently. Another VIP opportunity coming up on 21 July. Greg asks for everyone to continue contacting potential donors.
  12. Communication/Operations committee (Pinckney, Christie, Cowdrey)
  13. Work on the policy manual will resume.
  1. Communications
  2. Julius shares that Mr. Hendler is selling portions of his property north of the park.
  3. Discussion about pending offer on the house near the park property.
  1. Public Comment
  2. NA
  1. Adjournment - Meeting adjourned 8:35 pm